Kansas Jayhawks freshman Darryn Peterson has given an in-depth look into his relationship with his head coach early on in the 2025-26 season. On Tuesday, Nov. 11, Peterson was featured on the NBC Sports YouTube channel, wherein the latter interviewed the college basketball rookie and dived deep into how his experience with the Jayhawks have been in his first year of college.
One of the first questions then of the interview was on how coach Bill Self has put Peterson into a high standard for his play, and so the Canton, Ohio native was asked about what is it exactly like to be playing for a tenured coach like Self. For Peterson, he indicated that Self is a hard-nosed coach that expects nothing but the best from his players, but he did re-assert that it’s all for a collective goal to get better.
“It’s great so far. He’s hard on us, he expects a lot from us. But, it’s all out of love. I think so, he sees something in us and we’re starting to see it in ourselves as well,” Peterson said. (0:38)
So far in the current campaign, Peterson has fared tremendously well to the tune of being one of the top freshmen in the nation and a likely one-and-done standout. Through his first two games as a Jayhawk, he is averaging 21.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks in around 25 minutes a game. Peterson’s prolific scoring has since made him one of the focal points of the Kansas game plan.
Peterson’s efforts has helped coach Self’s Jayhawks uncork a current .500 record of 1-1 so far in their non-conference schedule. They are coming off of a 13-point defeat at the hands of the North Carolina Tar Heels, 87-74, in away territory on Friday, Nov. 7. Peterson and Co. will look to snag their second win of the year when they face the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at home on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
Darryn Peterson Details How Bill Self Is Like During Kansas Jayhawks Practice Sessions
Later on his interview with CBS Sports on YouTube, Darryn Peterson was then asked how Bill Self is like during their practice sessions with the rest of the Kansas Jayhawks. This stems from the fact that Peterson did detail out that Self is tremendously strict and vocal towards his players, which then likely produces intense and high-pressure training sessions from a team point of view.
“He’s great. He wants us to go a 110% every rep, which is something we got to be better at. I see his vision a lot. He understands us, and I think we’re all connected really well,” Peterson shared. (0:49)
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